NAIROBI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber killed
himself and wounded nine people when he detonated a grenade near
a military air base in Nairobi on Friday, police said, in the
latest such attack since Kenya's military foray into
neighbouring Somalia.

The incident occurred in a Somali-dominated area, and police
said the attacker had intended to blow up a group of soldiers
near the perimeter of the air base. All but one of the wounded
were civilian bystanders, police said.

"The person was a suicide attacker, he blew up what we
believe was a grenade and we presume he was targeting the air
base perimeter," Nicholas Kamwende, head of the criminal
investigations department in Nairobi, told Reuters.

"Nine other people were injured," he added.

The attack came shortly before a visit to Kenya by U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Africa, whose trip in part
is intended to strengthen U.S. security ties in the face of
growing threats from Islamist militants.

After travelling from Uganda, Clinton is expected to meet
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki in Nairobi on Saturday and, later,
Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.

Nairobi has blamed the series of attacks on Somalia's al
Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which has threatened to retaliate since
the east African economic powerhouse's military pursued the
Islamists into Somalia in October.

Other grenade attacks have hit the capital and the coastal
city of Mombasa, threatening Kenya's lucrative tourism sector.

Two Iranians are facing charges in court after they were
arrested in June in connection with chemicals police suspected
were destined to be used to make explosives.
(Reporting by James Macharia; Editing by Michael Roddy)